As we broke the news on Twitter at 9:50 a.m., the Canadiens fired head coach Jacques Martin this morning, replacing him through the end of this season with assistant coach Randy Cunneyworth.

Players were informed by GM Pierre Gauthier upon arriving at morning skate at the Bell Centre. Gauthier and Cunneyworth will speak to the media at the Bell at noon ET.

Assistant GM Larry Carrière will become an assistant coach, also through the end of the year.

•Martin notes: Became the Canadiens head coach on June 1, 2009… Was nominated for the Jack Adams Award four times, winning it in 1998-99… Ranks 7th in league history with 1,294 games as a head coach and 9th for wins (613)… Coached his 1,200th NHL game on Nov. 20 against the Toronto Maple Leafs… Recorded his 600th NHL career win on April 9 against the Maple Leafs at Toronto… Has a career winning-record of 613-481-119-81 (.551)… Displays a 22-34-6 (.403) career record as head coach against the Devils.

828 Comments

Classic Habs Organization,they are about 1 month behind on this,should have been done after the loss at home to Pittsburgh or the Anaheim embarassment.
HOPEFULLY ,this propels them forward,utilizing their strengths,minimizing their weaknesses….

Goatier had absolutely nothing to do with this move save making the announcements!

Geoff Molson as owner pulled the trigger on this one!

Finally!

———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

I didn’t realize he was unilingual. That is great news. Maybe it will set a precedent. If the world doesn’t fall apart by the end of the season, maybe they won’t be so rigid about who they consider for the head coaching job.

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

This is one of the classic problems with Quebec, so many people refuse to join the 20th Century, much less the 21st.

It’s one thing to preserve the good things in one’s culture for posterity, but to not adapt to the world as it is – international, cosmopolitan and changing dynamically every day – is a bus ticket to oblivion for the very things you want to preserve.

And frankly, not to go political, but that is the main reason I live in Los Angeles and not in Montreal, and why MANY Quebecois emigrate here and elsewhere because of the dead-brainers like the Luc Gelinas of RDS.

When will the “Allo Police” media cease and desist in their attempt to run the Montreal Canadiens?
———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

anytime a team’s top paid players are under-achieving the gm has to look at the motivation factor. The Habs go toe-to-toe with the San Jose Sharks then lose to the Islanders….hmmm. I say good ridance to the “system” Lets play some fast, transition, hockey and yes PK this means you can jump into the play and not get reamed for it. Kaberle, Campoli, Subban, Jorges, Weber, Diaz, the most offensive minded blue line in the entire league and we just weren’t using them to thier potential. Lets hope it improves.
Charge it to the Underhill’s.

The only surprise here is that it took so long. Some asking if this move is an “upgrade”, well, maybe not in the sense that some think. However, the Habs could not continue with status quo. The team’s record under Martin was not good, other than that spurt in the playoffs two years ago. Barely squeaking into the playoffs in each year, and off to the worst start in the team’s history this year. The other thing is, players are not going to air the team’s dirty laundry to the media. That’s a big no-no. But I have to think many were not onside with their coach’s ideas anymore, and though I won’t accuse them of playing to get Martin fired, it is my opnion that they weren’t playing “for” him either. Good move to ride out the season without bringing in a new guy. Cunneyworth is capable enough to oversee direction for the remainder of the season. At this point, anything new, or any new and fresh ideas, would be welcome. I think the players will respond positively.

Cunneyworth will get his first real test tonight than again he’s only interm if he loses maybe he won’t get stomped on too bad but I’m sure there will be a lot of comments what he should have and should not have done….

Fact is that I liked Martin as a coach. But even I thought it was a time for a change. Fact is that the new coach will reap the benefits of Martin’s training of the players and if he can motivate them to play hard they will be dangerous

about time. i guess pg got some heat from upstairs and had to act.always thought he was the wrong coach for this team with the type of talent the habs have. this team was/is built for speed and skill.
hopefully cunny has this team doing an up tempo agressive forecheck that more suits the personnel. as for those crying for roy for coach, no thanks. he would become too much of a sideshow. since he always had to be the man when he was playing. lets see what rc does for the rest of the year and then make a decision in the off season when there is more time as well as more potential candidates to choose from(hopefully not dependant on language. just get the best possible coach please)

Just found: Martin’s Notebook
Contents from final period as coach:
-pick up a coffee crisp after game
-stop and look for pigeons on way home
-bench rookies for being so young
-ignore expert advice
-make snow angel outside Bell Center
-audio record next bowel movement

So true, showey. And, although Cunneyworth can not be described as a “young” fresh mind, given his age and era that he played in, he has at least had the benefit of working with young players as a coach through the minors. I think we will see a different team. A different attitude. Maybe a team that will gamble a bit on the ice without players having to fear losing their ice time. Cunneyworth is in a no-lose situation. He isn’t expected to deliver the team to the promised land.

things i hope change-
1)Eller usage, give him some ice time and wingers, dont sit em if he has a bad shift.
2)cammy breakout- open it up, let him play the sniper role he is supposed to play. if he doesnt start potting, sit em,
3)if someone is having a good game; play em! (LL)
4) the crushin’ rushin’ lettin loose
5)have a different gameplan for different teams.
6)a 4th line
7)no cammy on pk, no darche on pp

I do not think Cunnyworth has a large stamp yet for coaching. So we may have a new coach and GM in the spring.

Cunnyworth did a fine job in Hamilton last year after the Hab’s robbed him of his best players. So we will just have to see if the team conforms to his style of communication, and game plan!
He can do no worse than Martin for sure.

I think we win tonight by 3 goals! And no more of 5 guys all skating backwards into our zone!

Had to log back in and post just for this. I saw this just now as i got back from the gym (funny it wasn’t on tsn while i was there) and just about jumped through the ceiling. FINALLY.

Just a SHAME that Muller AND Boucher have both moved on.

Giving Cunneyworth the rest of a year that is far from over seems almost like a financial move. I’m Ok with it, but i do wonder if the fact that they will have to pay Martin to sit at home has something to do with them not bringing anyone in. Cheapness is not something I’d often accuse the Habs of though. Not their MO really.

Patrick Roy: May or may not be the solution to bringing success to the habs but one thing is 100% garanteed with him behind the bench: Pure entertainment! Just watching him lose his sh$t will be worth the admission price! We need some hot blooded madness to fire up the team…

Thanks to HIO for making my wish come true this morning with the Capital Letters in the original title. I had a great day yesterday, I got a job I really was hoping on and you sealed my day today on a great note with that title. I had great news come my way yesterday too. There is hope for my habs now. Time for the guys to drop their shackles and prove their stuff.

This should have been a clean sweep with Goatier and Gainey and have happened a month ago same time a St Louis hired Hitchcock!

Dave Tippett to Montreal!

———————————————————————-
What does the Commissioner of the NHL do?

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

This team has lost many games just becuase the refs don’t respect JM and the Habs from office. This team needs a strong leader behind the bench with history and fire in his eyes. We all know that is MR. Roy. We lost to the flyers because of bad calls . Roy would have exploded on the bench and serve notice to the the refs and th NHL the Habs are no longer your door mats. Mr Molson take it all the way open the check book and bring in our Saint.

I’m not a Martin fan but if you think cunneyworth is gonna be the real deal you’ll be back here by the end of jan 2012 complaining like you have been for the past two years – I’m not saying Martin wasn’t a part of the problem and I don’t think he was the right coach for the Montreal Canadiens – what I’m gonna say – we have 22 players – some give it their all and some collect a paycheck until this is resolved – Mr. Cunneyworth is in for a rude awakeing
if they stand pat with this team – you will not see them playing Hockey after the regular season – start getting rid of the deadwood…..

Storm: I’ll be watching – I’m no coach – I couldn’t lace Martins skates – I said it before and I’ll say it again – common sense is the name of the game – put your best with the best – you will win or you will lose – you only have so much talent on your team and if you can’t match the other teams – you have one option – hope you have luck on your side most times that’s your best friend – I’ve played a lot of hockey and if I scored 20 goals 12 was luck.

Randy, JB here. JM probably told you about me. Yeah, the guy with all the suggestions. He didn’t listen and look what it got him. Fired. Hope I have your ear now.
Okay, so here’s a few worth considering. Nothing radical to start with. Takes a while to get the battleship CH up to full speed. Start off by giving the fourth more TOI. And reduce Gill’s ice time. Save his sprawls for the playoffs. Playoffs?!! Yeah, we’re still talking playoffs.
Communicate. No notebooks. Whisper sweet somethings into the players’ ears. Reacquaint them with the notion of joi de jouer (I think that’s how the French say it; here’s the link to http://translation.babylon.com/, you might want to bookmark it).
One more thing: You’ve likely got three games, 10 tops before the knives come out if the team isn’t playing .800 hockey. It’s a lot of pressure, I admit, but don’t play it safe. You’re an interim coach — it’s the perfect time to be daring.
Go for the gusto. If you win, you’re a hero. If you lose, well, what did they expect, with the team you’ve been given — players who aren’t performing up to expectations and a roster undermined by injuries.
And the timing! “I know it’s Christmas, but I’m not the saviour so I hope they’re not expecting miracles.” Go with that.
And if the team doesn’t make the playoffs, well, whose fault is that?
Don’t answer, we’ll let the commentariat get this one.

I’m happy about this. I’m not sympathetic for his losing the job. He had his chance. He’ll be rewarded monetarily. For most of his tenure, I found that the experience of watching the Habs to be frought with a malaise and grey. You can’t light a fire under a team with a wet match.

I’ll be surprised if the Habs do much better the rest of the year. Maybe enough to make the playoffs but kids, be patient, they’re a long way from hitting any stride.

My only vague memory of Cunnyworth with Hartford was a game where the Nords defenceman Stephan Finn had wailed away on him. He was fireplug type guy too.

If your happy and you know it clap your hands clap clap… This is the best christmas gift ever… See you later lord martin. Now watch the team play like they can with speed and puck control not worried about making a mistake and sitting on the bench by some coach who thinks coaching like he is back in the 90’s…. I love it!!!!!

Easy, gotta find a guy that can speak french; although Dick Irving, & Toe Blake could only curse in french, and look were they got us. PG on his last leg. And Mr Boone, the Habs will be paying $7.5 million for Gomez to play in “The Hammer” next year to pay for Price and the lot.

I’d have to say that this means PG has the confidence of the owner, so, for better or worse, look for the trades to begin if RC doesn’t right the ship. Things I hope for:
1. AKost gets a fair shake
2. Emelin gets a fair shake
3. Pleks and Cammi get a frozen boot up the arse, or third line duty
4. Budaj gets a few games
5. They all get a bit more freedom to create some offence
6. That the system will be designed to fit the skill set rather than the other way around.
7. That PG will know when it’s the right time to trade and tank, should it come to that.

Gauthier’ s job is on the line in the spring if t6his does not work, after getting rid of Muller. Let’s just see if Cunnyworth has the respect from the players that JM did not. He will at least play the kids and 4 lines. Me thinks.

Step 1: Fire coach. Done.
Step 2: New coach evaluates roster. I’d say this should take a month. If no improvements, player movement will be next. Gauthier likes to make his moves well before the trade deadline.

… the team is doing poorly, no doubt about that. But to all those who received this news with such glee, don’t forget: Jacques Martin is a good coach. Just because things didn’t work out between him and the Habs doesn’t change that fact. It only means his style and the players he was given didn’t work well together, and shows just how fleeting a good pairing between coach and team can really be.

“Whenever you have the puck, and don’t know what to do with it, put it in the net.” – Toe Blake

Firing Pearn, trading for Kaberle and now letting Martin go. Three clear signs that Mr. Gauthier is desperately trying to hold onto his job. If the Habs miss the playoffs Gauthier is all but gone.

Promoting Cunneyworth is a good compromise. The fact that he doesn’t speak French is balanced out by the utilization of Carriere although I’m not sure I would want a front office guy looking over my shoulder.

The main point to consider here is that PG didn’t commit to anyone long term. No need to compound the problem by bringing in ill-suited candidates like Hartley, Crawford or Roy.

The only fear that I have moving forward is that Mr. Gauthier may eventually make some ill-advised trades in order to save his hide. I could easily see him moving Tinordi, Kristo, a rookie Dman or a 1st rounder for a short-term fix.

This trade also has serious implications for HI/O. The day-to-day bitching to have Martin fired is now officially at an end. When it’s all said and done, that may be the greatest gift of all as we prepare to celebrate the festive season.

Really? I guess we’re all guilty of desperately trying to to keep our jobs. I mean according to your logic people who go into work with an attitude and work ethic improve things and want better results are desperate employees.

I don’t think that any of those things should be considered desperation moves. They are necessary moves for a team that is underperforming, but I don’t think that signing Kaberle was desperation – it was filling a requirement. Sacking Pearn was meant to light a fire, and kind of worked.
Getting rid of Martin isn’t desperation, it’s just the right thing to do, I think.
PG isn’t desperately holding on to his job any more than any other GM whose team isn’t doing well. He’s trying to turn the ship around, and is making, in my opinion, the right moves.

In short, a league commissioner is the action man for the Board of Governors.

They tell him what they want done and he works to make it happen through his subordinates while making sure that individual franchises play by the rules.

******** Translated if you haven’t won the Stanley Cup in 40 years your NHL team is becoming irrelevant in a sports mad city long behind MLB, NFL and NBA teams, you just tell the commissioner(who you gave a new contract at 7 plus million per) to make it happen and the rules are bent sufficiently to action the command.

Just one more change needed. Please stop looking for French speaking candidates only. On a team that has less French Canadien players than most, we really need to stop shortening the list and ignoring good coaches. I couldn’t care less if the coach didn’t speak English or French. If he can get our players to play great then I say GREAT…

All the top euro soccer teams have coaches from all over the place, it isn’t even on the radar as an issue.

As another poster mentioned this morning, how about giving Ted Nolan a look? As a native person (whatever the term is these days) he kind of checkmates the language issue, too — though that is not a consideration. The coach should have basic courtesy in French, as any business person would make an effort to do, but language should not be an issue.

Anyway, do we need a Quebecois to coach Belarussians, Czechs and Americans? I mean really…

If England can hire an Italian and a Swede to coach and the Montreal Canadiens can have 3 non French or even Canadian Captains I think we should be past the language issue. Can someone please tell Molson that the Queen’s picture is on the money this team takes in…. It ain’t Charles De Gaulle, or parizeau.

I agree with you, but, to be fair, those Euro teams are in places that aren’t surrounded by 300-and-some-odd-million people speaking one language. I could see how that would make a person sensitive on the point.

Holland has a dutch coach.
Germany has a german coach.
All teams with respect for themselves have native coaches.
England? Dont make me laugh.., Havent won or done anything since 1966..
And supporters of England dont like that theres an italian that coaches them.. Partly because of the Italian style of play, partly because of the fact that its not a Englishman.. Then how can he coach the english team? The English “invented” the sport, then a englishman must train them.
Thats what they think.

If the majority of the fans (you guys) dont understand him because he speaks english not french, then offcourse your bar for tolerance is lowered.
I know that if some foreigner, or from any other part of norway, would come and train Vålerenga, then people would not be as happy as if it was a local guy that took over.

“People from other places dont know the deal. They dont know the culture etc etc.. unless they are a fan, a true fan.. And you dont find those anymore (coaches and players that are true fans..)
They see this work as any other work. Not a passion. Not there for the club, but for the money.

Thats the unique thing about the Canadiens. Be hard on the french. Be proud etc.. Even though i dont understand a word of french. But i like it. Like the fact that you say oui even though everyone else says yes.

Maybe this is kind of a test of the language thing. Head coach Randy is Anglo, but assistant Randy speaks French if I’m not mistaken, so RDS still has somebody to talk to. Maybe if this works out, the language restriction could relax a bit.

Although i do not mind personnaly about the coach speaking french or english i have to agree that in Montreal you have no other options than being bilingual.
How about a french only coach behind the Leaf`s bench ? Makes no sense ? Same here in MTL.

Actually would like to see Patrick Roy getting the job. Do not think he has what it takes to be in the big leagues cause he has shown that he is not mature enough but just to see him kick a few reporter`s a** would be priceless !

Kept Boucher Ian? Have you seen the Lightning play? People here complain that our style of hockey has been too boring, Boucher gets the least possible out of his stars and coaches others up to be overachievers.

Can’t impede someone’s opportunity to move forward. Can’t fire a coach who went to the conf finals. Who would accept a job on a team that would do that? Not Muller, Not Boucher.
Timing is everything, and it is all too easy to look back and say could’ve should’ve would’ve…..
I like the Larry Robinson idea. But I think the smart move is to wait till the end of the season to see all the best options we have.
I know everyone here is happy, but the truth is we simply replaced our experienced coach with an inexperienced assistant. It may end up good, and a change was needed, but this is quite far from a great thing…
Our team is not better today because of this. But hopefully good will come of it.
There may be other teams, but only ONE Club De Hockey…

This move should have been made several weeks ago and then we could have hired Muller. Gauthier is on thin ice as well ,but maybe Gomez, Subban ,Emelin will finally be able to play the way they are supposed to. You can criticize Gomez but you watch he will play much better now and Subban has been held back by Martin for too long. Let him go play fire wagon hockey like ORR did ,he certainly has the skill to do it.Also LeBlanc gets a goal the other night and hardly got another shift from Martin? Thats an example of why he is gone. Merry Christmas to all you H
abs fans out there!